


An Annotated Homestuck

by Melodic



Category: Homestuck, MS Paint Adventures
Genre: Fanwork Research & Reference Guides, Gen, Meta, Nonfiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-12
Updated: 2019-08-06
Packaged: 2020-06-27 05:34:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 3,662
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19784290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Melodic/pseuds/Melodic
Summary: Homestuckwas a conversation between it's readers and it's creator as much as it was a story, and as such featured numerous references to ongoing fan jokes, memes, and theories, many of which are now utterly inscrutable to archival readers who arrived after the fact.This guide seeks to clarify such references where lacking the context would render certain jokes or references opaque, such as the importance of a date a page was posted, the Sufferer's long pants, and more, while avoiding spoilers and allowing as much of the comic as possible to speak for itself.





	1. Notes for Use

**Author's Note:**

> This guide was originally posted on my tumblr and hosted via google doc, but I've decided it's about time to move it somewhere more permanent and accessible. It has been slightly modified for AO3.

_Homestuck_ was a conversation between it's readers and it's creator as much as it was a story, and as such featured numerous references to ongoing fan jokes, memes, and theories, many of which are now utterly inscrutable to archival readers who arrived after the fact. This guide is intended as a simple repository of such references for new readers, and seeks to make clarifications where lacking the context would render certain jokes or references opaque, such as the importance of a date a page was posted, the Sufferer's long pants, and more, while avoiding spoilers and allowing as much of the comic as possible to speak for itself.

I should note that _Homestuck_ is very long, and very complicated. It is by no means an easy read. This guide is not intended to explicate convoluted timelines, clarify bizarre plot points, or otherwise explain the plot of Homestuck to you as you read it. It will explain only aspects that an archival reader could not possibly know from the text. The rest you must figure out for yourself.

1\. This document is meant as a companion to the comic as read online starting at https://www.homestuck.com/story/1  
2\. This guide is not meant to serve as an overall guide to Homestuck and will have no commentary or explanation of the actual plot, and it will be spoiler free. It will not note internal references or callbacks Homestuck makes to itself, or general pop cultural references unless they are especially obscure.  
3\. Annotations will primarily be geared towards in-comic references to Homestuck fanworks, fan theories, fan jokes, Hussie’s earlier works, and when the date a page is posted becomes important.  
4\. Not every reference will merit an annotation. As much as I’d love to write anecdotes about every single event that transpired while I was serially reading, that guide would be much longer and more frivolous. For this, I will require a very loose minimum standard of “is this information necessary for this page to make sense/still be funny?”  
5\. Many things are referenced multiple times, and I will not re-annotate them every time they appear. For example, since I explain multiple references to Problem Sleuth in the first two acts, I will assume you can pick up for yourself that the “Problem Sooth” book that appears in Act 3 is yet another one, and I will not point it out.

Happy reading.


	2. Acts 1 and 2

**_Act 1_ **

**Page 1:**

It just so happens that today, the 13th of April, 2009, 

April 13th, 2009, was also the date this page was posted. 

**Page 3:**

At this point in the story, commands were still being suggested by readers on the site’s forums. John was given the first name suggested.

**Page 10:**

Your SYLLADEX'S FETCH MODUS is currently dictated by the logic of a STACK DATA STRUCTURE. 

A “stack,” in computer science, is an abstract data type also known as LIFO, which stands for “Last in, first out.” Much like John’s Sylladex, only the most recently added element in the collection can be accessed. 

**Page 11:**

This is a real poster for Problem Sleuth, Andrew Hussie’s previous comic, which is still available to read on homestuck’s website. It begins as a parody of detective noir stories and then careens off in absurd directions. It ran exactly one year and was completed on March 10th, 2008, roughly a year before Homestuck began. 

**Page 22:**

The date marked on the calendar (April 10th, 2009) was the date Hussie first tried to launch the comic, with the idea to do it entirely in flash. When this proved impractical, he restarted it entirely on April 13th, with the version you’re reading now. 

**Page 24:**

The icon for one of the files on John’s computer, the ~ATH one, is the face of the Grim Reaper as depicted in Problem Sleuth. 

**Page 26:**

The “godhead” portion of TG’s chumhandle (turntechGodhead) is a reference to Godhead Pickle Inspector, another character in Problem Sleuth. 

**Page 31:**

(1) The first disc links directly to Bard Quest, an earlier comic that Hussie attempted but never finished. 

(2) The second disc shows a preview for Caper Havers, a comic by Cindy Marie, who worked with Hussie on a webcomic site called Team Special Olympics from 2003-2008. 

(3) The 4th disc with a preview shows, but does not link to, the cover for And It Don’t Stop, a complete 40-page comic co-created by Hussie and Tauhid Bondia in a much more traditional comic style. 

(5) The 6th disc with a preview links to Jailbreak, the very first comic that Hussie made with user commands. It was also never finished. 

**Page 37:**

“Fncysantakind,” or fancy santa kind, is a reference to a blog post from Hussie in 2008 where he expresses his hatred for elaborate and expensive statuettes of Santa Clause. 

**Page 112:**

(1)The Midnight Crew first appeared in bonus content for Problem Sleuth. They are described as a dangerous band of mobsters who wield shadow-based magic, and are themed around playing cards. 

(2) MS Paint Adventures was the original website Homestuck and Hussie’s other command-driven comics were hosted on before they moved to the homestuck.com domain. 

_**Act 2**_

**Page 287:**

TG: being the president 

TG: itll be called 

TG: "obama made it so that no one gives a shit about black presidents in movies anymore"

Obama’s election was still very recent when this page was posted, in June of 2009. 

**Page 302:**

Fluthlu, in addition to being a Lovecraft reference, first appeared as a pre-final boss in Problem Sleuth. The other monsters are shown only in Homestuck. 

**Page 305:**

The electrical windows shown in these illustrations were portals to another universe in Problem Sleuth. 

**Page 450:**

The images of Muppet Babies on the walls of Dave’s apartment, and Bro’s interest in puppets in general, is a reference to a 2008 forum thread entitled “Cheerfulbear - PLAY ME” wherein a user roleplaying as the fictional character Jigsaw from the Saw movies demands other users draw pornography of Muppet Babies characters for him. Though most ignored the obvious troll, Hussie found it amusing and tried to play along. 

**Page 565:**

This is a comic Hussie drew for the Cheerfulbear thread.


	3. Act 3, 4, Intermission, and Act 5 Act 1

_**Act 3**_

**Page 764:**

In Jailbreak, there was a running joke in which Hussie would draw a pumpkin in the background of a scene, but when anyone suggested a command involving it, it would disappear and he would insist there had never been a pumpkin at all. 

**Page 893:**

Dr. Brinner: Ghost Psychologist is a webcomic by Andrew Hussie that does not actually exist. It was an ongoing forum joke to refer to it and make up bizarre plot points for it as if it were real. 

**Page 938: [S] Rose: Fast forward to now.**

A small pink horseshoe will appear in the bottom right corner at the end of the flash. Click on it. 

**Page 1064:**

The painting of a horse attacking a football player is a real painting entitled “Need For Steed”. In 2007, Hussie raised $425 from fans to allow him to purchase it. 

**Page 1066:**

The protagonist of Problem Sleuth kept several pieces of candy corn in his hat. 

**_Intermission_**

**Page 1310:**

The link goes to a part of Problem Sleuth, as does the one a few pages later. 

_**Act 4**_

**Page 1549:**

This is the last page with a forum-suggested command. From here on, all commands were written by Hussie himself. Character names were still taken from the forums, however. 

**Page 1595:**

****AT: aIMED AT THE TARGET ON YOUR SHIRT THAT IS RED,** **

This link originally led to an online store where you could buy a red shirt with Dave’s logo on it, among other things. Homestuck merch sales have since moved to a different website. 

**Page 1601:**

This video is no longer available, but it originally led to a clip from Con Air. You can instead view the scene [here.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nZ6SULBtdQ)

**Page 1676:**

The real life Lil Cal doll was made by a fan and gifted to Hussie. 

**Page 1806:**

Death was said to cry tears of “black liquid sorrow” in Problem Sleuth. 

**_Act 5 Act 1_**

**Page 1992:**

today, the 12th bilunar perigee of the 6th dark season's equinox,

This page was posted June 12th, 2010. 

**Page 2038:**

Ignore all [???????] links for the time being. 

**Page 2211:**

These paintings all come from when Hussie would do what he called “fine art reviews,” where he would ironically review furry horse pornography. Yes, really. Additionally, we are both worse off for knowing this particular piece of information. Why did I sign up for this 

**Page 2230:**

The link goes to some Problem Sleuth bonus content, where the doomsday dice cascader originated. 

**Page 2324:**

In Problem Sleuth, a character called Hysterical Dame used a weapon that was sometimes a chainsaw and sometimes a tube of lipstick, seemingly switching back and forth at random. 

**Page 2494:**

that squeaky clean sunday loafer you use to stomp that bookmark and stamp that F5 key, day goddamn in and day fucking out???

Homestuck had no consistent update schedule, and new pages would be posted randomly at any day or time, with no way of knowing or predicting when. Some very dedicated fans were known to camp the site and simply refresh (ctrl+F5 on many computers) over and over again to see if a new update had appeared.


	4. Act 5 Act 2

_**Act 5 Act 2** _

**Page 2672:**

The broken link goes to the same Con Air clip from before. 

**Page 2705:**

GA: Im A Girl Not A Boy

GT: oh, sorry.

GT: i don't know why i thought you were.

GA: It Happens

When Kanaya first appeared, before her real introduction, many readers assumed she was a boy. 

**Page 2792: [s] Past Karkat: Wake Up**

This page was posted on October 25th, 2010. Incidentally, 10/25 is the sum of 413 and 612. This walkaround is referred to as “Alterniabound” by fans. If you wish to look up a walkthrough, I recommend doing so under that name for best results. 

**Page 2823:**

“Hero mode” was the fan term for when a character is drawn with full proportions, often accompanied by a switch to lineless art, as opposed to “sprite mode” (the way characters are drawn in their introduction, tiny and often without arms). Up until this page, Gamzee had never been depicted in hero mode, and when he finally would be was the subject of much speculation. 

**Page 3139:**

it's still April, and nowhere near the holiday season.

This page was posted on December 23rd, 2010. 

**Page 3220:**

These pages of a ball dropping were posted on New Year’s Eve. 

**Page 3231:**

Ms. Paint is a reference to the name of the original website Homestuck was posted on, MS Paint Adventures, and by extension the program microsoft paint. 

**Page 3877:**

TT: Also, there's a Burger King less than forty minutes from my house. I won't let this stand in the way of the new policy though.

All of the kids houses have real GPS coordinates. A burger king does indeed exist 40 minutes away from where Rose’s house is said to be. 

**Page 3954:**

fedorafreak: yielded useless, excessively tall pant; relieveing from wardrobe at once.

Back on [this page](https://www.homestuck.com/story/3848), the way Karkat’s clothes were colored led some to interpret him as wearing one incredibly tall pair of pants all the way up to his shoulders. “Pantskat” produced an absolutely ludicrous amount of fanart and is referenced several more times throughout the comic. 

**Page 4109: [S] Cascade**

This page was posted on 10/25/2011.


	5. A6A1, A6I1, A6A2, and A6I2

**_Act 6_**

**Page 4115:**

today, the 11th of November, 2011

This page was posted on that date. 

**Page 4121:**

and as long as the panels are actually finished being drawn.

When this page initially went up, Jake’s pages were not finished and only Jane could be selected. 

**Page 4134:**

Jane’s desktop background is of the protagonists of Problem Sleuth with halloween-themed powerups they get at one point in the story. 

**_Act 6 Intermission 1_**

**Page 4373:[S] [A6I1] Karkat: Mental Breakdown**

A small picture of Nic Cage’s face will appear in the upper right corner. Click it. 

**Page 4401:**

You're gonna bring this whole goddamn ball down.

This countdown clock, and the actual ball drop a few pages later, were posted on New Year’s Eve. 

_**Act 6 Act 2**_

**Page 4440:**

Almost a good name for you. Not sure why.

Fans had long guessed that the kids and guardians would switch places after the scratch, and furiously theorized about what their four-letter first names would be. “Anna” was a popular choice for Jane, based on its similarity to “Nanna.” 

**Page 4617: [S] Frigglish: Fast Forward to Jaspersprite.**

In the bottom right corner at the end of the flash, there will be a pink horseshoe. Click it. In the [S] Ride bonus flash, there is brief scene of what is implied to be Jane and Roxy kissing, with cotton candy all over the floor. “Cotton candy” is the ship name fans used for Jane/Roxy, referring to their text colors. 

**_Act 6 Intermission 2_**

**Page 4794:**

humanimal butler who may or may not be Aurthour.

Humanimals was an older series of comics Hussie worked on, about human-animal hybrids. 

**Page 4815: [S] [A6I2] ???**

The idea that Hussie was in love with Vriska and wanted to marry her was a running joke on his formspring account, where he answered fan questions. The original url for this page had simply “DOTA” instead of a page number, which stood for “Death of the Author.”


	6. A6A3 and A6I3

**_Act 6 Act 3_**

**Page 4878:**

The panel composition and text are an almost exact match for the first page of Jailbreak. 

**Page 4897:**

At one point in Jailbreak, a character forges a sword out of gay pornography. 

**Page 4987:**

WE'LL CALL OUR JOURNEY THROUGH BLACK ENDLESS DESPAIR "NEPETAQUEST".

“NEPETAQUEST 2011” was a joke Hussie made on his formspring, and not long after it became a real (and very popular) fan-made story. 

**Page 4988:**

DAVE: (turned out the baby was us)

Toby Fox (of _Undertale_ fame), a member of the original Homestuck music team, at one point created a Homestuck-themed joke opera album entitled “The Baby Is You.” Any and all mention of this album was subsequently banned from the forums. 

**Page 5027: [S] Terry: Fast forward to Liv.**

Upper right corner at the end of the flash. Click it. 

**Page 5090:**

UU: http://tinyurl.com/roxyisthisyoU

In several of the walkaround flashes, there is an easter egg where pressing ctrl+T unlocks what is called “Trickster mode” which will swap out sprites for sillier ones and other strange effects. In the first walkaround it appeared in, John’s sprite was given brighter colored clothes, a skin tone, blush, and had a lollipop in his hair. Fans ran with this design for “Trickster John” and would often come up with candy-themed Trickster designs for other characters and speculate about their personalities. UU’s drawing here would be immediately recognizable to any fan at the time as a version of “Trickster Roxy.” 

**_Act 6 Intermission 3_**

**Page 5263: [S] Act 6 Intermission 3**

Dave’s ebubbles are a reference to horse_ebooks, a then-popular twitter account which posted amusing non-sequiturs. 

**Page 5308: [S] [A6I3] == >**

IT IS! IT'S PROBLEM SLEUTH, ACE DICK, AND PICKLE INSPECTOR, IN THEIR ORIGINAL PROSPITIAN ATTIRE!

After the Midnight Crew, who originated as enemies in Problem Sleuth side content, were revealed to be dersites, fans would often speculate that the main characters of PS were also involved in the Homestuck universe somehow. 

**Page 5398: [S] [A6I3] == >**

(1) 

$2,485,506 pledged of $700,000 goal

This was the final amount of money raised by a kickstarter campaign for a “Homestuck Adventure Game.” It reached its goal in about 32 hours.The fundraising campaign had only just ended when these pages were posted in October 2012, and the game (eventually titled Hiveswap) was finally released in 2017. 

(2) 

After Kanaya opens the door, you can go back and be Damara and explore the meteor as her after doing so as Meenah to get extra conversations. 

(3)

HUSSIE: I've been thinking of dividing up my offers into a series of handsomely priced explanation bundles called EXPOSITION PAKS where I would...

Different donation tiers to the kickstarter, which had varying prizes, had names like BROPAK, SLICKPAK, SEERPAK, etc. 

(4) 

HUSSIE: With apologies to Dante Basco. Dante, I'm sorry about this. All of this. I am so, so sorry. You were leading the regular, modest life of a Hollywood superstar, then this shit happened.

Dante Basco, the actor who originally played Rufio in the movie Hook, began reading Homestuck and liveblogging it on his tumblr account after finding out about the scene in A5A2 where Hussie kisses him. Parts of Rufioh’s typing quirk, such as starring out swear words and using the word “doll,” are taken directly from the way Basco types on his blog.


	7. A6A4 through Act 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The latter half of Act 6 plays with the act/intermission structure in ways that can be a little complex. To make things simple, superfluous acts and intermissions will be listed under the subheading of the main act/intermission they belong.

**_Act 6 Act 4_ **

No annotations.

**_Act 6 Intermission 4_ **

No annotations.

**_Act 6 Act 5_ **

**Page 5523:**

GT: What, like a year already since we entered? Holy moly, where does the time go.

When this page was posted, it had been just over a year since Act 6 started.

**Page 5723:**

This page originally said “caucasian” instead of peachy, during a time when fans were intensely debating the racial makeup of the human cast. After serious backlash, the page was changed, and an earlier reference in Act 1 to Dave’s Bro being white was briefly retconned. Hussie’s final word is that all tricksters have caucasian skin tones, but the kids themselves are canonically racially ambiguous.

**_Act 6 Intermission 5_ **

**Page 5966:**

During the Kickstarter, there was a tier to pledge $10,000 to have your fantrolls appear in canon. These are trolls of the two people who donated. For $100,000, there was a guarantee for the trolls to survive more than one panel, but this tier did not have any takers.

**_Act 6 Act 6_ **

**Page 6327:**

KARKAT: HOOF LOAF??

KARKAT: HAMSTEAK!!!

“Hamsteak” was a lighthearted and comical nickname for the comic occasionally used by both fans and detractors.

**Page 6901: [S] GAME OVER**

This page was posted on 10/25/2014.

**Page 7412:**

THE LAND OF "COLOURS". AND THE LAND OF "MAYHEM".

“Colours and Mayhem” (stylized “coloUrs and mayhem”) was the name of two different albums released by the Homestuck music team in 2012, three years before this page.

**Page 7688:**

(VRISKA)

The practice of putting alternate-Vriska’s name in parentheses is a reference to a particularly well known meme, shown below. The image, submitted to a "fandom secrets" blog in 2011, describes how one fan interpreted Eridan’s arc as an allegory for the Obama administration. It gives several characters symbolic significance, including Sollux (bipartisanship), Gamzee (the increasingly dispossessed and disillusioned middle class), and Vriska (Vriska).

**Page 7787:**

(VRISKA): I'm not fat!!!!!!!!

Hussie had a running joke on his formspring about “fat Vriska.” It was exactly as tasteless and ill-conceived as you would imagine a joke literally called “fat Vriska” would be, and I’ll leave it at that.

**Page 7920:**

DIRK: For years thereafter, his followers would carve stone busts of him in his memory, capturing the piercing glare of his final expression.

A large bust of Ben Stiller was an object of significance in Problem Sleuth.

**_Act 7_ **

**Page 8127: [S] Act 7**

This page was posted on 4/13/16.

**Page 8129: [S] == >**

This page was posted on 10/25/16.


	8. Sources, Addendums, and Frivolities

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This final chapter contains my sources, as well as a few additional notes and annotations that were considered for the original list but ultimately not included for various reasons, in most cases because they were not truly necessary for understanding the page. I have included them here for the sake of those interested.

**Tavros**

While compiling this guide, I was informed by a few users that Tavros' wheelchair was originally a popular fan theory before his introduction that ascended into the comic itself. Due to the death of the MSPA forums, I was unable to independently verify this, but I believe it has a reasonable chance of being true. 

**Names**

The original 4 kids and 12 trolls were all named by forum users. Jane, Jake, Dirk and Roxy were named by Hussie himself, as there are only a handful of names that fit the number and letter pattern. The majority of the dancestor trolls were named from the suggested but not chosen names for the original 12 trolls (i.e., when Vriska was being named, "Aranea" was offered by another user in the same thread), with a few exceptions such as Rufioh. 

**(KICK IT BARACK)**

It is a popular fan misconception that Dave's "(KICK IT BARACK)" line, on page 5402, was posted on Obama's re-election night in 2012. This is false. It was actually posted on October 23rd, two weeks before. 

**Epilogues**

I considered but ultimately decided against annotating the Epilogues, both because they are not canon and because they have very few references to annotate. There is one, however, I feel compelled to mention. From Candy 30: 

GAMZEE: yOu KnOw WiTh ThE NiGhTmArEs I cAn’T sLeEp WiThOuT hOlDiNg On To A mOtHeRfUcKeR!

The phrase "can't sleep without holding on to a motherfucker" is yet another infamous meme, all the way back from the 2011 era. It was a line from a very popular AU fanfic known as 4chords, which focused on a romance between human versions of Gamzee and Tavros. The line, considered ridiculous, was repeated enough to become a fandom-wide joke. 

**_Sources_**

The vast majority of the content in this guide was done from memory by me personally, having read Homestuck for most of the years it was actively posting. I verified my own memory from secondary internet sources when possible, but much information was lost when the MSPA Forums were abruptly taken down in 2016. 

All dates were taken from the [command log on the Homestuck website](https://www.homestuck.com/log/story), which lists the date for every page posted. 

Andrew Hussie's blog is still up, albeit with almost all of the images broken. [Here](https://andrewhussie.blogspot.com/2009/01/need-for-steed.html) is the original blog post about Need for Steed, the horse painting, and [here](https://andrewhussie.blogspot.com/2008/12/fancy-santas-are-stupid-imposters.html) is the post about Fancy Santas. 

Other early works, including Humanimals, the original Wizardy Herbert, and the Cheerfulbear thread have been archived by a fan at https://mrcheeze.github.io/andrewhussie/.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for your kudos and your kind words in your comments, and thank you for reading :)


End file.
